supplying historic restoration millwork

Matt Wiley has 20+ years of experrience building historic homes and large scale commercial restoration projects.  Matthew’s father taught and trained him in the carpentry and building trades from 12 years old and on. As his father was a general foreman builing residential homes Matt was trained in lumber calculation for project management in his early teens.  Time saving job order, and the use of custom made ‘jigs’ to speed repetitive tasks was taught and practiced from Matt’s formative years.  Matt moved from the rural hills of western virginia to Richmond’s most historic district – Church Hill before it was popular.  Building the late 90’s and early 2000’s in Church Hill Matthew found a severe shortage in historically accurate building materials that caused a project management problem in restoring the row houses of the 19th century.  From balusters to windows, historically correct materials where nearly unavailailable and using vinyl windows in a beautiful 3 story six digit home just did not keep the aestetic alive.

And in a beautiful turn of fate Matthew had the opportunity to buy “Beckstoffer’s Millwork” at 1207 N 28th Street in the early 2000’s.  At that point the facility was 100 years old and many of the tools and records were still in tact.  The formative experience of a lifelong craftsman was now turned to the speciaty that provides a lifetime of challenge and project variety.  Throughout the real estate boom and urban return of the 2000’s Matthew ran a shop of 20+ employees supplying everything from basic kitchens to historic retrofits of much of Tobacco Row warehouse conversions.  In the full market stop of the financial crisis of 09; Matthew’s operation had to re-size with the rest of the industry and it was the demand for historically accurate building supplies that carried Matthew’s interest, as well as cashflow.

@gepetto.millworks Historic Replication Millwork for Tax Accredited Projects #historictaxcredit #restorstion #historic ♬ original sound - Gepettomillworks

The Tax Reform Act of 1986

Regulations provide a federal income-tax credit for owners of historic buildings that undergo substantial rehabilitations into income-producing uses. A credit equal to 20% of a rehabilitation’s qualified rehabilitation expenditures may be subtracted directly from the owner’s federal income taxes. A program of the National Park Service (NPS), the federal tax credits are administered by the State.

 

Historic Building Tax Credit Benefits

Main Street America Action Instructions

Timeline

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Milled Lumber fabrication Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

Exterior Architectural Mill work Washington DC

https://gepettomillworks.com/virginia-wood-window-restoration

Virginia Wood Window Restoration https://gepettomillworks.com/virginia-wood-window-restoration

Solid Wooden Windows Construction VA

Solid Wooden Windows Construction VA

Southern Plantation Historic restoration contractor

Historic Virginia Plantation Restoration Contractor
Historic Wooden Staircase Restoration Contractor
Rift or quarter-grain cuts are best. These cuts are the most stable. Flat grain often expands and contracts seasonally at twice the rate of quartered stock.
Historic Mantle and Trim Manufacturer Virginia
With that said, here are 10 things to keep in mind when determining which approach will work best for you:

1. Identify the factors that will shape your decision. Deciding whether to restore or rehabilitate your house, and to what extent, involves understanding its history; its architecture; and the present condition of its materials, finishes, and systems. You should also consider your household’s lifestyle and what personal needs the finished house must accommodate. More broadly, local historic district designations, local building codes, property insurance, and other regulatory or financial considerations will impact the path you take.

2. Review the house’s history. Who lived in the house and when? Did important events occur there? Did either (or both) scenarios have historical significance? If so, you could consider restoring the house to that period to help interpret its history.

Historic Home Renovation with Modern Kitchen
Install plain sawn lumber with the heart side up. Flat lumber will wear better with the heart facing up. If there’s cupping, the edges will stay flat, and only the center will hump slightly.
Virginia Historic Mantle and Trim Supplier
3. Know what “restore” means. To restore a house means to return its interior and exterior appearance to a particular date or time period. Strict restorations—ones that eliminate everything not present during the period chosen—are rare for homes, with most owners opting to maintain modern systems (plumbing, anyone?) and sympathetically designed changes, such as later additions, that add to the house’s history.

4. Know what “rehabilitate” means. To rehabilitate a house means to make it useful and functional for contemporary living while preserving important historic and architectural features. For example, a rehabilitated old house would always include modern electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems, a modern kitchen, and other attributes typical of present-day homes.

Historic Home Renovation Cabinetry
Use traditional joinery. Component repairs should be made using traditional joinery instead of non-historic methods like a wholesale epoxy casting of a missing part.
Virginia Historic Home Restoration Supplier
5. Choose your approach. The major difference between restoring and rehabilitating is to either exactly duplicate a particular period or concentrate on preserving a sense of the changes that have occurred over time. For example, if an Italianate-style house had lost its wood eave brackets, a restoration project would duplicate them in wood as they originally appeared, while a rehab project would add new brackets of a compatible design in an appropriate substitute material (ex. fiberglass).

6. Evaluate existing alterations. Consider the quality, design, materials, and craftsmanship of the original house as well as the changes that have occurred over time. Compatible interior and exterior changes of the same or better quality than the original house, even if done in different styles or materials, should probably be kept and restored. Conversely, you should probably remove any poorly designed or executed changes.

9. Take care not to falsify the history of the house. This might seem counter-intuitive, but you actually do want to be able to tell additions apart from the original. That way, the house’s history is visible and transparent. Also be careful not to design additions that make the house appear to date from an earlier or later period, or alter the house’s details to an extent that suggest a different architectural period.

10. Look to the experts. For a more detailed list of recommendations, check out the Secretary of Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. This jam-packed resource from the National Park Service includes guidelines on preserving, rehabilitating, restoring, and reconstructing historic buildings.

There’s no right or wrong answer when it comes to determining whether you should restore or rehabilitate your historic home. Let your property, capabilities, and needs help guide your decision, and chances are you’ll arrive at an accurate, appropriate solution.

The Glen Roy Estate was renovated and restored with the fine wood fabricated pieces by Gepetto Millworks.

We built most of the wooden construction, which was restored from a gutted historical property including:

  • cabinetry
  • kitchen design
  • wardrobe style kitchen storage
  • fireplace mantles
  • bathroom storage
  • laundry hideaway
  • china display shelving
  • custom closet design (NYC theme)
  • skylight

 

Glen Roy Plantation is a pristine 3-story, Georgian Revival home, which was completed in 1852. The intact interior features Greek Revival detailing and includes twelve fireplaces, forty windows, fifteen foot ceilings and a widows walk. The house sits on sixty acres with 500 feet of waterfront along the Ware River. There are also extensive lawns and gardens and numerous outbuildings including an 18th century library and a late 19th century carriage house. The property also features a stable, garage, swimming pool and dock.

Historic Home Window Repair Services